The rural broadband gap in each UK nation
Full fibre: urban against rural
Every measure, urban and rural
| Area | Type | Full fibre | Gigabit | 300Mbps+ | Superfast | Below 10Mbps / 1Mbps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | Urban | 84.4% | 92.6% | 92.9% | 99.1% | 0.3% |
| Rural | 65.6% | 66.5% | 66.6% | 91.8% | 3.8% | |
| England | Urban | 84.4% | 92.8% | 93.1% | 99.1% | 0.3% |
| Rural | 65.4% | 66.4% | 66.6% | 92.2% | 3.2% | |
| Scotland | Urban | 79.9% | 90.4% | 90.7% | 99.3% | 0.2% |
| Rural | 54.7% | 55.6% | 55.6% | 88.6% | 6.7% | |
| Wales | Urban | 87.6% | 90.8% | 91% | 99.3% | 0.3% |
| Rural | 64.9% | 65% | 65.1% | 89.4% | 6.3% | |
| Northern Ireland | Urban | 97% | 98.2% | 98.2% | 99.8% | 0.1% |
| Rural | 92% | 92.1% | 92.1% | 96.9% | 1.8% |
Residential premises. "Below 10Mbps / 1Mbps" is the share of homes that cannot get 10Mbps download or 1Mbps upload, as labelled in Ofcom's data.
The gap in percentage points
| Area | Full fibre | Gigabit | Superfast |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK | 18.8 | 26.1 | 7.3 |
| England | 19.0 | 26.4 | 6.9 |
| Scotland | 25.2 | 34.8 | 10.7 |
| Wales | 22.7 | 25.8 | 9.9 |
| Northern Ireland | 5.0 | 6.1 | 2.9 |
Urban coverage minus rural coverage. A bigger number means rural homes are further behind.
See which councils are furthest behind in our slowest areas tables, or check what your own postcode can get with the postcode checker. If you cannot get a decent connection, read what to do. Related data: full fibre by nation and council.
Cite this page
You are welcome to quote the figures and reuse the tables. Please credit BroadbandMart and link to this page.
BroadbandMart (2026), The rural broadband gap in each UK nation. Based on Ofcom Connected Nations data. https://www.broadbandmart.co.uk/data/rural-urban-broadband-gap
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Questions about this data
- How much less full fibre do rural homes have?
- Across the UK, 65.6% of rural homes can get full fibre against 84.4% of urban homes, a gap of 18.8 percentage points (Ofcom, January 2026 data).
- Which nation has the widest rural gap?
- Scotland, where the full fibre gap between urban and rural homes is 25.2 points. The narrowest is Northern Ireland, at 5.0 points.
- What can rural homes do if they cannot get a decent connection?
- Homes that cannot get 10Mbps download and 1Mbps upload may be able to use the broadband Universal Service Obligation, and some areas have voucher schemes. Our guide to not being able to get decent broadband explains the options.
- Where do the urban and rural classifications come from?
- They are Ofcom's own classifications within its Connected Nations data. We have not changed them.
Sources
- Ofcom, Connected Nations update: Spring 2026 (January 2026 data)
- Ofcom, Connected Nations fixed broadband coverage and full fibre take-up data files
- Ordnance Survey, OS Open Names (places and postcodes in Great Britain)
- Open Government Licence v3.0
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right. Contains Ofcom data.
Last updated 29 October 2026.
Our data has urban and rural splits for the UK and each nation only, so this page does not rank councils. Data is from January 2026, published 13 May 2026. See our methodology. Page reviewed 29 October 2026.